The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
One of Disney’s darkest movies, but after nearly 30 years does it hold up?
Brief Backstory
After the success of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Lion King, Disney had a misshape with Pocahontas. Hoping to redeem themselves, the Hunchback of Notre Dame was their attempt to get back up from a minor fall. At the time of release, it was not given the best reception, but was considered far better than Pocahontas, and showed that Disney was able to stay good at a cost of scaring the living hell out of kids.
Story
A mysterious and deformed man known as Quasimodo lives his life in the famous Notre Dame bell tower, and crawls out to venture into Paris despite the orders from his evil leader, Claude Frollo. After being exposed at a festival and saved by Esmerelda, a gypsy girl, Frollo avariciously covets her, leading to terrorism all over Paris and Phoebus, the captain of the guards, a fugitive after he saves innocent people.
During the chaos, Quasimodo slowly stops worshipping Frollo almost like he’s some kind of god and starts to realize that he’s nothing more than a chaotic no good ruler.
Random Facts
Frollo’s appearance looks similar to Governor Tarkin from Star Wars: A New Hope. If not him then probably other Peter Cushing appearances in Hammer horror such as Victor Frankenstein. You should see some of the Hammer horror movies if you get the chance.
The soundtrack sounds similar to Star Wars movies, mostly Revenge of the Sith with all the chanting.
When originally shown as a promo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame was billed more as a comedic movie rather than a blended classic. This trick on the viewers benefited so well and made the movie scarier in a good way.
Kevin Kline (Phoebus) and I share the same hometown, although he lived in the Clayton area where I lived in the Mehlville/Lemay area near the Jefferson Barracks bridge during the early to mid 90s. On another note he voices Calvin Fischoeder from Bob’s Burgers.
Commonly considered to be one of the darkest Disney movies of all time. Like Pinocchio I probably only saw this once as a child. My parents (mostly my mother) likely felt uncomfortable with me seeing and it and I can tell why.
Carrie has some similarities with Quasimodo’s crowning and parts of being insulted, then later with Frollo attempting to murder him.
Random Opinions
This movie’s really fucked up for Disney animated feature standards; I almost think I’m watching a Don Bluth movie or god forbid Watership Down with CAPS animation!
Frollo is one of the most evil Disney villains. I still think McLeach is a little more evil (just barely) given how he’s been murdering animals (gloating about it too) and not hesitating to execute Cody. Compared to McLeach, most of Frollo’s actions are simply driven by him unable to have his way and having the notion of “If I can’t have you no one will” all over him.
Although not truly considered a Halloween movie, Hunchback of Notre Dame seems to fit well with watching in October.
If this takes place in early January, why isn’t it snowing? It’s Paris, not Rome. My only assumption is that the late medieval times had some sort of climate crisis going on similar to what we’ve been dealing with for 30+ years.
The feast of fools is harder to watch nowadays due to it taking place on January 6th, which shares the same date (excluding the year) as America being attacked by racist Ku Klux Klan wannabes (AKA Trump’s fan club) on January 6th, 2021. The devastation seen in Paris on January 7th only makes you wonder what would happen if January 5th was topsy turvy day…
Pros
- Tony Jay just kills it in this one. They did a good job picking him after listening to him talk in Beauty and the Beast as Monsieur D’arque, the asylum owner.
- Frollo is one of the best Disney villains of all time.
- I enjoyed the transition from the calmer atmosphere at the beginning (not counting the backstory for Quasimodo) to a burning town.
- There’s a lot of good build up toward Quasimodo getting assaulted at the feast of fools.
- The CAPS animation (as usual) showcases some of the greatest animation in Disney history. This is one of the reasons why the 1990s Disney movies were so fun to watch.
Cons
- Of the song numbers, “A Guy Like You” is probably the worst.
- Although the gargoyles are great characters, they are still not exactly the best part of the movie.
Rating: 8/10 – Great
Major improvement over Pocahontas, but not as good as the early 90s Disney animated movies. I usually prefer to only watch this during October.
I can’t say if it’s better than the 1930s Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I’ll probably take a look at it again.
One response to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
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I wouldn’t consider The Hunchback of Notre Dame great. It has a few hiccups like an early romance with Phoebus & Esmeralda due to their lack of chemistry, the tone has problems going from light to dark, the gargoyles are outta place in a serious movie and some of the extras are blatantly CGI. I gave it a B- (7/10) on my blog. That’s how I rate it as average.
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